Human Vδ1 + T Cells in the Immune Response to Plasmodium falciparum Infection

• Published in: Frontiers in immunology 2019, Vol.10, p.259-259
• Main Authors: Hviid, Lars, Smith-Togobo, Cecilia, Willcox, Benjamin E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: acquired immunity; gamma-delta (γ/δ) T lymphocytes; Immunology; innate immunity; malaria; Plasmodium falciparum; Vdelta1 gamma delta T cells
• ISSN: 1664-3224; 1664-3224
• DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00259

Naturally acquired protective immunity to malaria is mainly antibody-mediated. However, other cells of the innate and adaptive immune system also play important roles. These include so-called unconventional T cells, which express a γδ T-cell receptor (TCR) rather than the αβ TCR expressed by the majority of T cells-the conventional T cells. The γδ T-cell compartment can be divided into distinct subsets. One expresses a TCR involving Vγ9 and Vδ2, while another major subset uses instead a TCR composed of Vδ1 paired with one of several types of γ chains. The former of these subsets uses a largely semi-invariant TCR repertoire and responds in an innate-like fashion to pyrophosphate antigens generated by various stressed host cells and infectious pathogens, including . In this short review, we focus instead on the Vδ1 subset, which appears to have a more adaptive immunobiology, but which has been much less studied in general and in malaria in particular. We discuss the evidence that Vδ1 cells do indeed play a role in malaria and speculate on the function and specificity of this cell type, which is increasingly attracting the attention of immunologists.